Media Contact

Find us

Giving

Stay in Touch

The Logic of Russian Internet censorship

Message

Steven L. Wilson (MA 2009), a USD History alumnus, wrote an essay on Russia that was posted on the Washington Post's "Politics" blog.

Washington Post -- On Thursday, in advance of scheduled protests over Sunday’s Crimean secession referendum, Russians reported that their Internet service providers (ISPs) were blocking several opposition Web sites: Grani.ru, Kasparov.ru, EJ.ru, echo.msk.ru and navalny.livejournal.com. The first three are opposition news sites, the fourth the Web site of Echo Moskvy (a radio station that is one of the last sources of free media in Russia), and the fifth is the blog of opposition political figure Alexei Navalny. Curiously, the bans on the latter two were lifted late Friday, raising the question of Russia’s motivations: Why shut down five opposition sites but allow the two most significant ones back up within 24 hours? Some initial answers can be found in the technical methods the government used, and the physical geography of the Internet in Russia.